US stocks open higher as investors wait on Fed, earnings
Source: AP-Excite
By STEVE ROTHWELL
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks opened higher as investors waited for the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting later Wednesday. Investors were also waiting for companies to start reporting their first-quarter earnings. Alcoa, a metals company, will be one of the first major companies to report earnings after the close of the market.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained nine points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,085, as of 10:06 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 88 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,962. The Nasdaq composite gained 33 points, or 0.7 percent, to 4,944.
NOTES OF A MEETING: Investors will pore over the minutes from the Federal Reserve's March meeting when they are released later Wednesday. Policy makers have hinted that they will raise interest rates later this year, if the economy strengthens sufficiently. The Fed has kept its benchmark lending rate close to zero for more than six years.
EARNINGS: Companies are set to start reporting earnings for the first quarter. Earnings per share are projected to decline by about 3 percent for S&P 500 companies, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. That would be first contraction since the third quarter of 2009, when the economy was emerging from the Great Recession.
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